UofL BASKETBALL | Pitino: "...we've got a heck of a team."

Calling it one of the most difficult schedules in his tenure at Louisville, Coach Pitino discussed the upcoming 2016-2017 season. After opening with Evansville and William & Mary, The Cards will travel to the Bahamas to compete in the Battle For Atlantis. The brackets have yet to be released for the November tournament but other entrants include Michigan State, Witchita State, St Johns, VCU, Old Dominion, LSU and Baylor.

The road doesn’t get any easier for Louisville after they return from the Bahamas as a trip to Grand Canyon will fit somewhere between home games against Purdue and UK before heading to Indianapolis for a New Years Eve showdown with Indiana.

Pitino likened his incoming team to his 1996 championship team at Kentucky. He believes this team will be quick and be able to put up a lot of points, similar to that UK team.

Quentin Snider and Mangok Mathiang will be co-captains and the anchors for this team. Mathiang will be expected to pick up the extra minutes available due to the departure of Chinanu Onuaku. He will be spelled by Anas Mahmoud and Matz Stockman.

The front court will be a strength for the Cardinals as Jaylen Johnson, Deng Adel and Ray Spalding will be joined by incoming freshman VJ King.

Tony Hicks, a fifth year transfer from Penn, joins Snider and Donovan Mitchell as the three guards with the most game experience.

These November and December games will help prepare Louisville for conference play as the ACC boasts 3 teams in the preseason Top 10, according to cbs sports. The Duke Blue Devils sit atop the poll at number one, the North Carolina Tarheels check in at number seven and the Virginia Cavaliers round out the Top 10 at number ten.

Louisville checks in at number twenty in the CBS Sports Top 25 after Onuaku declared for the NBA Draft last week.

Louisville could end up facing as a many as five Top 25 teams by the end of December